Enel leads charge of non-solar-specialists climbing PV developer ranking

The Italian energy company has developed four big solar plants in the last 21 months to add 794 MW of generation capacity to its 3.67 GW solar portfolio and is emblematic of companies from the wider energy sector focusing on the renewable technology.

First Solar still has the world's largest – reported – solar development portfolio.

Image: First Solar

Share

Although PV market regulars First Solar and Canadian Solar retained their positions at the top of the latest project developer ranking issued by U.K.-based analyst Wiki-Solar, the latest table highlighted the rising contribution made by companies from other segments of the energy industry.

The latest ranking – caveated, as ever, by the fact Chinese companies are likely to be under-represented because of a lack of publicly-available information in the country – places U.S. developer First Solar at number one during the last quarter, with the 11 projects and 1,074 MW (AC) of generation capacity added since the end of 2018 swelling its 4.91 GW portfolio to 72 plants.

Sino-Canadian rival Canadian Solar has added 13 generation assets and 683 MW during the same 21-month period to maintain its second-placed ranking with a 196-project, 4,479 MW portfolio.

Italian energy company Enel led the charge of the upstart, non-solar-specialists in the latest edition of the ranking, adding four plants with a total 794 MW of generation capacity since the end of 2018 for a 48-plant, 3,667 MW solar fleet.

Popular content

Among the top 36 developers listed by Wiki-Solar, German company Baywa re has been the busiest since the end of 2018, adding 73 projects with 1,042 MW of capacity to climb to 34th place. Baywa's entire project portfolio has been compiled during that period, reported the analyst.

The only other developers to report more than a gigawatt of capacity over the seven quarters in question were U.S. developer Nextera Energy (21 projects with 1,485 MW of capacity to rank fourth); compatriot First Solar; French energy firm Engie (57 projects, 1,243 MW, seventh); and Japanese investor Softbank (12 projects, 1,142 MW, 28th).

Of the Chinese developers listed, the State Power Investment Corporation ranked sixth, having reportedly added two projects since the end of 2018, with a total generation capacity of 221 MW, to reach a 55-project, 3,024 MW portfolio.

This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.